5 Habits That Make You Unhealthy (And How To Fix Them)

The New Year is coming, so there are resolutions to be made. But before you start promising yourself you will live healthier, why not start by identifying the bad habits you have right now? Most of us are doing small things we are not even aware of, but which does ourselves a lot of damage. Here are some habits I managed to identify in myself.

1. Faulty sleeping habits
The way you sleep can have a lot to do with your posture and your back pains. There are three main sleeping positions: on the back, on the belly, and on a side. The best of them is on the back, because your entire body is sitting straight. Sleeping on your belly forces you to twist your neck, while sleeping on a side requires more support in order to keep your spine straight.

Regardless of how you like to sleep, make sure your spine is supported[1] and stays straight. Any unnatural curve can lead to back pains, especially in the long run, so always keep an eye on how your body is supported during sleep.

2. Faulty posture
Look around you. Do it! If you are at the office you will see your colleagues sitting in their chairs with their spine awkwardly twisted and their heads tilted forward. If you are on public transportation, you will see people shrinking their entire body due to cold, or keeping their shoulders and heads rolled forward so they can text on their smartphones. Keeping your body in a faulty posture can to alter your health in dramatic ways,[2] damaging your bones and your muscles.

To avoid having the posture of an elder in your 30s, you can train yourself to sit upright. This is not going to be easy – I am saying this from my own experience! Exercise by dragging your shoulders downwards and backwards, pushing your chest forward. Keep your chin up and breathe deep, as this will exercise your abs and back muscles, as well as the diaphragm. If you have to text, keep the phone as high as needed, so your chin is not tilted downward, dragging the neck with it.

A good way to relax your muscles and relieve some of the pain you will feel as you start improving your posture is getting a massage, either in a massage chair, or by a professional.

3. Your breath is too shallow
Singers and athletes know very well how shallow other people breathe, and how damaging this bad habit is in the long run. Most people breathe with their upper chest, which means they don’t use the diaphragm, and they take in small amounts of air. This translates into a poorly oxygenated blood stream and body. The correct way to breathe is using your diaphragm,[3] inflating your belly. This enables you to take in bigger amounts of air, inflating the lungs completely. As you do so, your body is going to receive more oxygen, promoting better functions of the internal organs, especially the brain.

4. You’re not getting massages
Getting a massage is often considered a habit of the rich and famous, but in fact you should schedule a massage session from time to time, regardless your revenue. Nowadays, massages are available for everyone, and you can also get your own massage chair[4] or portable massager to help you unwind after a long day. A massage can help your muscles relax, which is going to ease your aches, especially if you are used to going to the gym. Stretching is another important thing to do, as it helps improve your mobility and provides muscle strength. Stretching and massages help you get rid of the lactic acid that builds up in the muscles after a workout. The best way to benefit from stretching and massages is to stretch before and after each workout, and get a massage once a week or twice a month.

5. Listening to loud music
Remember when your mother told you to stop listening to loud music? Well, she was right! Listening to loud music is a bad habit[5] many people have, especially millennials. However, this habit can lower your hearing sensitivity, and can even lead to hearing phantom sounds, or ear pain. This happens because our ears are not built for listening to loud sounds for extended periods of time. To avoid damaging your hearing, wear ear plugs at loud concerts, and keep the volume of your music down, especially on headphones.